If it wasn’t safe to connect with your parents when you were a child, it makes sense that connecting with people as an adult will be scary to your inner child.
One part of you might feel safe, but another part of you, your inner child, might feel incredibly unsafe.
How does a child stay safe?
- Maybe they hide and make themselves invisible
- Maybe they become so invisible that they need for very little
- Maybe they spend a lot of time away from the house and the unsafe people
- Maybe they hide their true selves under the mask of what is approved of
- Maybe they hit and scream to be heard or to stay safe or express that something doesn’t feel right
- Maybe they block out scary things
Children are resilient. You are resilient because you are still here.
The next time you feel yourself act out, ask yourself what your inner child might be trying to protect you from.
The last time I ‘acted out’, my inner child was trying to defend me. She felt that the other person had unjustly exaggerated a mistake I had made, and her response was ‘fight’. She was trying to protect me.
What is your inner child protecting you from?
